I saw Terminator Salvation yesterday. As some many recall, I’m a pretty big fan of the “Terminator” franchise/genre – going back to 1984. So, I was looking forward to this one. And, after seeing the “HBO First Look” episode on it, which looked great, I was truly geeked up.

On the bright side, I can share that the effects in this one were top notch. They got every dollars worth out of their big budget. Visually, this was a spectacular movie – for me – and one that you should experience on a big screen with surround-sound. All the sets/scenery, special effects, explosions, etc., were 100% believable – and not once do you find youself thinking “Wow, that’s some bad CGI….”

However, on the whole, this is not a great movie. It’s funny that Christian Bale gets big billing for this one – because you hardly see him in the first half of the movie and it’s all about Sam Worthington and Anton Yelchin. Don’t get me wrong – the latter two did a very good job. But, again, the way the movie was pitched, it’s the normal expectation to think this one was going to be about “John Connor” with Bale carrying the movie. And, it wasn’t until the second half – and the climax of the film – where it was mostly Bale.

Also, the very, very, end of the movie was as predictable as the ending of an episode of the Brady Bunch.

Just to be clear – I’m glad that I went to see it in the movies. And, if you’re a fan of “Terminator,” I recommend that you do the same. But, just go in with tempered expectations, enjoy the effects, and you should be fine.

Comments on Terminator Salvation

I actually really enjoyed this film, and there’s one part i won’t spoil but i just want to say i’m glad it didn’t come off as cheasy, and you’ll know the part when you see the movie. It actually came off pretty cool. The key to this 1 is, go into it not expecting a “terminator movie”. Just go in it expecting a cool action movie with killer robots, and you’ll enjoy it. Although, occasionally, there’s a ton of plot gaps from the first two that just get rubbed in your face, but other then that its largely ignorable. I concur with Steve, the special effects were really cool, plus I loved how the other terminators look.

They marketed this movie wrong – it was never about John Connor – it was written about Marcus Wright from day 1 – the whole title is about him. Salvation? All about him getting that second chance.

That said I loved every scene he was in – now the writing could have been a lot better – this was no Matrix or T2 but this was much MUCH better than Wolverine and T3.

I think the next 2 movies need to have a good writer attached in order to make Bale work – he is a good actor who is better when he is given good scripts (Prestige, Machinist, American Psycho, Dark Knight)

Worthington is going to be in Avatar which is Cameron’s opus supposedly – hope its good.